The Half-Acre thread (2018)

Yeah, I would've only taken Benthic had I had the choice (my gf is a coconut fiend). It's funny, they ran into the same issue at the Benthic launch--They said 2 per person, and it became very clear that that was way to generous. By the time they realized they made a mistake with allotments, they couldn't just tell the rest of the people in line "you only get one arbitrarily, sorry." Surprised they went back to two this time (1 of each).

 

Lol. Let's stop calling it a gift set and start calling it "I got the whale I wanted and they threw in some glasses pack".

Nobody's giving these away...

 

Big Hugs 2014 they did this. Kept lowering the allotment as we were waiting.

 

My guess is there are a bunch of shattered glasses on the streets nearby.

 

Oh for sure, I'm just using HA's terminology. The only person in line I could tell was getting the beer for someone else was someone's (really nice) girlfriend, who was unprepared to stand in line (she was told she shouldn't need to) so was freezing.

Interesting, that might explain why they were so hesitant to do that again. Can't imagine that went over well with Big Hugs.

 

In the post, this is what they said it would be. I told someone in line that's the limit, one or the other. Was sorta surprised to see people walking out the shop with both. I was the cutoff, like 2 in front of me didn't get anything either. Should have seen this coming, more like a Whole Foods thing, everyone has their own interpretation. Whatever, wasn't a bad event, just when you hear someone inside say, "sorry, there's like 2 bottles of Orin left, but hey we have cans of Tephra! Get it now because it will be out by the end of tomorrow." it becomes a fun vacuum and the guys you're talking to in line sorta just start contemplating weather they still want to be there or if they should kill themselves.

Me and one other dude in line were like, 'it'd be nice if they had a ticket system so you KNOW you're not getting anything.'

Nice to see they had the BH tulips, so if anyone want's to grab one of those too that'd be nice. Overall, not bad, not the best. Can't wait till next year!

 

If I got Orin, I was going to wrap it and give it to a couple of good friends of mine for Christmas. They are kinda big HA fans and think that would have been a really nice gift. Benthic bottle would have been mine but I would have gifted my glasses. The BCBCS Mug has been my go-to glass/mug for every type of drink. that thing is amazing (albeit small). That was my goal for this year and happy to hear that it was fairly easy to obtain.

 

Not sure what post you're talking about (FB, Twitter, IG), but the Instagram post said it was one of each variant per customer, so they followed through correctly from what I expected.

 

I felt a little bad for the dude who had to say that. Like, I'm sure it sounded ridiculous to him, too; "Hey, yeah, you missed out on the super limited barrel-aged ale or adjunct stout you wanted, but there's a one-off IPA available in 4-packs, why not buy that?!?" Don't get me wrong, Cliffs is a good beer, but people standing in line in the winter for a BA beer aren't going to jump at the chance for an IPA they've had every opportunity to buy since Friday.

 

Kudos for having a positive attitude despite having missed out. There are many others who in the same position would have blasted HA on all social fronts for whatever reason they could come up with.

 

My exact same reaction reading the post. Refreshing. Cheers.

 

Go to ravenwood, on a work day, in the morning, in sub freezing temperatures, to stand in line, for a beer. Pass

 

I can make that happen for you. Nice and easy 1:1

 

Glad im not totally crazy. Like I was saying its obviously a different beer but that had an errie similarity to them.

 

Yeah, I had a can last night and think I was wrong about the malty portion (it's the fact that HA didn't use citra and mosaic and thus those two flavors don't shoot through the beer, that makes it different), but I still definitely see the similarities. I'm glad that you mentioned it initially, because it's part of the reason that I went out and tried it at HA yesterday. Focal is one of my favorites, and I'd love to find something around here that's a decent replacement.

Half Acre seems to be stepping up their IPA game, too. The things they had on tap were a little different from what I'm used to there, and they were all delicious. I know they've always been excellent at IPAs, but it seems like they're trying more new things, which is awesome.

 

Make it your New Year's resolution to get invited to 4 Jewish weddings in 2017.

 

I must just keep misreading them then. Seems to happen, I tend to get excited about the opportunity.

I'm 26, I have better things to worry about than beer. That being said I know the risks involved so fun is always the ultimate goal (making friends). Cheers guys, hope to see ya at one of these things!

 

Agree - positive attitude is good, but I also agree with your point about communicating to the line where the cutoff is. I generally don't think it's fair for people to complain about not getting beer - if someone showed up an hour before you, they deserve it more. But waiting a long time and then not getting what you waited for sucks. HA isn't a small shop and it's not their first rodeo - I think their customers would appreciate a bit more upfront communication on this kind of thing.

 

I like Half Acre a lot, and think the guys/gals there are pretty great as a general rule, so this isn't meant as a criticism of them, but I agree with you. There's no reason they couldn't hand out some sort of token to people in line yesterday, especially since there were maybe 100, 120 total (60 Orin, 50 Benthic, 1 each pp, I was the last person to get a BA beer, there were probably...20 people behind me, maybe?). The first 60 people get a token, and everyone else is told "you may or may not get anything." After Benthic sells out, you give tokens equal to the # of Orin bottles remaining to the next group of people in line. Everyone else has the easy option to go home. So many other releases do this; there's no reason they can't. I agree that whoever is in line in front of me deserves the beer more (unless they cut, in which case they should burn in the fiery hellfires of fiery hell), but at that point, turn people away.

For the above reason, I think they should also have been doing 1 TOTAL pp. That way the first 110 people get a token, and the rest can go home.

 

Yeah, I think it's fair and if I was in the maybe part of the line - you can then make the decision. It's all about giving people information. People are investing more than just $$ in their product - they are waiting in line. If you wait in line thinking you're good and then you're not - that sucks and I don't think that's what HA wants.

I agree, but more along the lines of "that's how I would have done it", which it sounds like is how you're viewing it.

Agree - always enjoy going to their taproom or retail store. And the Big North event was easily the best craft beer party I've ever been too. They're very friendly and I think they're trying to brew good beer and generate excitement in a mostly positive way.